Sunday Column (17)

I cut down on the interviews a bit because I really want to enjoy the time with my wee boy. He is growing so quickly and is VERY cute! We decided to put pictures online and on Facebook but not making them all publicly available. So please contact me or my wife if you want to see some more.
Monday night was a hail storm. I put pictures of that on Facebook too. Crazy weather for early June, I have to say!

Tuesday we went back to hospital. Colin was diagnosed with over 10% weight loss (10.7%) and jaundice. Both are relatively normal and after many tests and endless waiting in the hospital, we got the “all ok” stamp. Jenny needed to stay in hospital with the boy and I went home. However, after we had such a good experience with the hospital, Princess Royal in Farnborough, we were highly disappointed with this stay. Each midwife said something different, confusing the new mother and father, stressing us out and pushed us beyond our comfort zone. I would have expected more empathy, care and respect from professional midwifes. Some midwifes even admitted that their colleagues are “bad“. Anyhow, we are home again, and we are happy again and wee Colin is well. He is eating a lot and already has put on a lot of weight. I so love him!

This episode resulted in me taking the decision to cancel another meeting with a recruitment consultant. I have to say that there are very good ones out there that really care about you and the job you want to get into. Some just ignore you, don’t care and play with you, knowing you might be desperate to find a job. I am not overly, so got really annoyed with some. One of the biggest agencies in our industry, didn’t even manage to get back to me although I applied to 2 jobs, phoned twice, and added them on instant messenger. Funny enough they have a few jobs going I was put forward through other agencies. Really bad. Once I have found a job, I might just write a bit about my experience and tell you which recruitment consultants are good and which ones I did not like 🙂

Thursday and Friday we managed to chill out a bit and prepare the house for the arrival of my mother in law. She arrived late Friday and we had a really good time. 3 generations in one little house for a weekend. What a brilliant time we had.

The amount of presents we got is overwhelming. People are so generous and caring. This is so fantastic. Thank you all so much for your pressies and cards. We will respond asap.

Colin on Fathers Day

Besides the immense time I am spending during my paternity leave to help Jenny and little Colin, I still go for interviews. This is a shame but needs to be done, e.g. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to get interviewed by great companies and hope to have a new position soon. I keep you posted. Hopefully, once I have a decision, I can take another week off – just for the family.

On my Balamadana project, the blog I write with the Buddhist monk, I wanted to give you an update. Marcelo who was a monk when I met him and then left his monk hood in London, and we then started the blog to write about Buddhism and Management. He now decided to go back and become a monk again, he is being re-ordained in Brazil. I am very very happy for him and think it is a great step for him and he will truly enjoy it. Unfortunately, this means the project Balamdana will be on hold for a while and I am thinking if I continue there or continue to introduce a Buddhist column into this blog. I keep you posted.